Where were the pharaohs buried?

In the Old and Middle Kingdoms (2628-1638 BC), Egyptian kings were buried in pyramids. About 50 royal pyramids have survived. They were built on the desert edge, west of the ancient capital of Memphis. The earliest is the Step Pyramid of Djoser at Saqqara; the later pyramids, such as the Great Pyramid of Cheops at Giza, are smooth sided. Most of the pyramids are much smaller than the Great Pyramid and less well preserved; all were plundered in antiquity.

In the New Kingdom (1504-1069 BC), the pharaohs built their tombs in the Valley of the Kings at Thebes. Not pyramids, these tombs were tunnels cut deep into the natural rock. Of the 23 royal tombs in the Valley, only that of Tutankhamen, discovered in 1922 by British archaeologist Howard Carter, kept its treasure, virtually intact, until modern times.

"Death shall come on swift wings to him that toucheth the tomb of Pharaoh."

So reads a totally imaginary inscription supposedly in the tomb of Tutankhamen. In fact, the so-called mummy's curse is an invention of the media and the entertainment industry. On April 5, 1923, six weeks after opening the burial chamber of Tutankhamen's tomb, Lord Carnarvon, who had financed the excavations, died from complications resulting from a mosquito bite, and for years afterward, the death of anyone connected with the discovery of the tomb was attributed to supernatural causes. Howard Carter, the actual discoverer of the tomb, who ought to have been the prime victim, lived until 1939. According to Carter:

It has been stated in some quarters that there are actual physical dangers hidden in [Tutankhamen's] tomb--mysterious forces, called into being by some malefic power, to take vengeance on whomsoever should dare to pass its portals. . . . All sane people should dismiss such inventions with contempt.

Ancient Egyptian artists did not sign their works, and even when we know from inscriptions that someone was an artist by profession, it is rarely possible to identify his work. Imhotep, who built the Step Pyramid of Djoser (about 2628 BC), is credited with inventing the art of building in stone, and Amenhotep son of Hapu was responsible for many of the great works of Amenhotep III's reign (1391-1353 BC), such as the Colossi of Memnon. These men, however, were more like contractors than artists.

As a rule, the Egyptians did not worship animals themselves, but rather the divine forces they represented. Because each god could manifest himself or herself as a particular species of animal, creatures of all sorts--dogs, cats, ibises, crocodiles--were protected, venerated, mummified at death, and buried by the thousands in special animal cemeteries. The sacred bull cults were different, for in their case an individual animal rather than the whole species was worshipped. Chief among these was the Apis bull, associated with Ptah, the god of Memphis, and other deities. When an Apis bull died, it was given a magnificent funeral like a king. Then the priests searched for a successor, identified by specific physical traits. According to the ancient Greek historian Herodotus, the Apis bull was black, with white markings resembling a diamond on its forehead and the image of an eagle on its back, double hairs on its tail, and a scarab under its tongue. The Apis bull was worshipped from the earliest times down to the Roman period (about 2950 BC-AD 362).